On 2003.06.11 12:12 Dustin Puryear wrote: > I listened to a rather well done piece on NPR about the overuse of George > Orwell as the proponent of just about any side of an argument. Orwell had > very strong socialist beliefs, yet had a fear of an overbearing, > centralized government. He was also something of a pacifist, but was known > to believe that some fights are worth fighting for. > >
That's rich, the Voice of Big Brother telling you about Eric Blair. Get your Orwell from Orwell. Orwell is worth reading again and again. If you are tired of 1984 try Homage to Catalonia, read Animal Farm to your kids or check out Down and Out in Paris and London or any of his colonial novels like Burmese Days. His language is always crisp and his grasp of human nature is more terrifying than any particular device or government agency he describes. The horror is that he's right. If we could know each other's thoughts we would punish each other for them and given enough stress, people will rush to enact and embrace that way of life. Your inability to modify the Xbox is Orwellian. It's your property and the modification harms no one. Yet we sit here afraid that anyone who would dare violate the will of Microsoft will be found and punished. Some of you might even be afraid to have had and expressed the thought. That kind of "law" and fear are as Orwellian as they come. Microsoft's demands of ownership of your computer are likewise Orwellian. Their EULA gives them permission to read all of your files, delete those they think violate copyright and upload "components" of software as they see fit. They have also used the EULA for Front Page, of all the silly things, to forbid publication of negative opinions of Microsoft. Though couched in terms of IP, this gives them the power to read everything you write and delete those things they dislike. It's a direct expression of their desire to know and control your thoughts and words. Normal laws are designed to prevent or punish behavior that's harmful to others. Orwellian's nightmare society was designed to dominate thought. Ingsoc was, by nuclear necessity, completely de-centralized and multiply redundant.
